Always Too Soon

You can smell the cool crispness of the early autumn air as you walk through campus. The golden leaves ripening and slowly drifting to the ground as summer releases its grip and the new season produces an energy that is nothing short of captivating.

But mixed into that crispness is something else. The smell of charcoal and tailgates, the distant sound of the marching band, bells ringing across campus, and thousands of people moving toward the stadium. The golden dome catches the September sunlight, leaves rustle beneath your feet, and everywhere there’s that familiar combination of anticipation, tradition, and possibility.

Most of you have your favorite college football team that owns your heart, and for me that's the University of Notre Dame. The tradition, the reverence of the pre-game mass, the grotto and touchdown Jesus looking down upon the stadium as a reminder of who bestowed the talent upon the players in the first place and the importance of seeing the mission through. To not quit when things get hard, to leave it all on the field like He did.

in my office I have a golden Notre Dame helmet signed by Rudy Ruettiger, with the phrase: "It's always too soon to quit". It was a gift from my father which makes it one of my most prized possessions and a reminder to perservere in all things.

Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger dreamed of playing football for Notre Dame despite being undersized and struggling academically. After years of persistence, he earned admission, walked onto the football team, and eventually worked into a spot on the dress roster. In the final home game of his senior year in 1975, Rudy entered the game against Georgia Tech and recorded a sack, turning his unlikely dream into one of college football’s most enduring stories of perseverance.

"Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light." (Micah 7:8) 

We step onto fields other people don't think we belong. We have doubts of our own and hills that feel too steep to climb and giants too big to slay. We find ourselves pushed to the proverbial brink. This is true physically, spiritually, emotionally. This lie shows up in our work, in the gym, in our marriages and relationships, academically and in every day battles of life. The only thing that validates the lie is to quit. You get to choose between the lie and truth.

Winston Churchill in the face of utter destruction said: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never. In nothing, great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.” And he didn’t. in doing so, he lifted a world out of despair and into victory.

Jesus asked his Father to take away the cup of suffering, and in the same breath committed to the task. He'd never quit, all the way through the cross and the empty tomb.

What do you say? Where's your level of commitment? Where do you draw the line between giving up and going through? I have a gift from my father on my shelf to never quit. We all have a gift from our Father that stood in our place and claimed victory because He was willing to do whatever it took. How about it? Though you may fall and sit in darkness, the Lord will be your light and you WILL rise again. It's always too soon to quit. Let's go!!!